Georgios Skiniotis, PhD

Member, St. Jude Faculty

Director, Center of Excellence for Structural Cell Biology
Endowed Chair in Structural Cell Biology

Departments

Department of Structural Biology

Education

BSc – University of Leeds, UK
PhD – EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany, degree conferred by Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
Postdoctoral Fellow- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Research Interests

Elucidating mechanistic aspects of signal recognition and propagation through G-protein coupled receptors and their partner proteins
Using structure-based approaches to characterize the binding properties of novel small molecules and develop next-generation ligands for use as tools and potential therapeutics.
Visualizing native signaling complexes in situ with cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET).

Contact Information

Georgios Skiniotis, PhD Department of Structural Biology MS 311 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital 262 Danny Thomas Place Memphis, TN 38105-3678

Selected Publications

Liu F, Wu CG, Tu CL, Glenn I, Meyerowitz J, Kaplan AL, Lyu J, Cheng Z, Tarkhanova OO, Moroz YS, Irwin JJ, Chang W, Shoichet BK, Skiniotis G. Large library docking identifies positive allosteric modulators of the calcium-sensing receptor. Science 2024 Sep 20;385(6715):eado1868. doi: 10.1126/science.ado1868. Epub 2024 Sep 20. PMID: 39298584; PMCID: PMC11629082.

Batebi H, Pérez-Hernández G, Rahman SN, Lan B, Kamprad A, Shi M, Speck D, Tiemann JKS, Guixà-González R, Reinhardt F, Stadler PF, Papasergi-Scott MM, Skiniotis G, Scheerer P, Kobilka BK, Mathiesen JM, Liu X, Hildebrand PW. Mechanistic insights into G-protein coupling with an agonist-bound G-protein-coupled receptor. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2024 Nov;31(11):1692-1701. doi:10.1038/s41594-024-01334-2. Epub 2024 Jun 12. PMID: 38867113.

Lyu J, Kapolka N, Gumpper R, Alon A, Wang L, Jain MK, Barros-Álvarez X, Sakamoto K, Kim Y, DiBerto J, Kim K, Glenn IS, Tummino TA, Huang S, Irwin JJ, Tarkhanova OO, Moroz Y, Skiniotis G, Kruse AC, Shoichet BK, Roth BL. AlphaFold2 structures guide prospective ligand discovery. Science 2024 Jun 21;384(6702):eadn6354. doi: 10.1126/science.adn6354. Epub 2024 Jun 21. PMID:38753765; PMCID: PMC11253030.

Papasergi-Scott MM, Pérez-Hernández G, Batebi H, Gao Y, Eskici G, Seven AB, Panova O, Hilger D, Casiraghi M, He F, Maul L, Gmeiner P, Kobilka BK, Hildebrand PW, Skiniotis G. Time-resolved cryo-EM of G-protein activation by a GPCR. Nature 2024 May;629(8014):1182-1191. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07153-1. Epub 2024 Mar 13. PMID: 38480881; PMCID: PMC11734571.

He F, Wu CG, Gao Y, Rahman SN, Zaoralová M, Papasergi-Scott MM, Gu TJ, Robertson MJ, Seven AB, Li L, Mathiesen JM, Skiniotis G. Allosteric modulation and G-protein selectivity of the Ca<sup>2+</sup>-sensing receptor. Nature 2024 Feb;626(8001):1141-1148. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07055-2. Epub 2024 Feb 7. PMID:
38326620.

Liu F, Wu CG, Tu CL, Glenn I, Meyerowitz J, Levit Kaplan A, Lyu J, Cheng Z, Tarkhanova OO, Moroz YS, Irwin JJ, Chang W, Shoichet BK, Skiniotis G. Small vs. Large Library Docking for Positive Allosteric Modulators of the Calcium Sensing Receptor. Science 2024 Sep 20;385(6715):eado1868. doi: 10.1126/science.ado1868. PMID: 38234749; PMCID: PMC10793424.

Lyu J, Kapolka N, Gumpper R, Alon A, Wang L, Jain MK, Barros-Álvarez X, Sakamoto K, Kim Y, DiBerto J, Kim K, Tummino TA, Huang S, Irwin JJ, Tarkhanova OO, Moroz Y, Skiniotis G, Kruse AC, Shoichet BK, Roth BL. AlphaFold2 structures template ligand discovery. Science 2024 Jun 21;384(6702):eadn6354. doi: 10.1126/science.adn6354. PMID: 38187536; PMCID: PMC10769324.

Vizurraga AL, Robertson MJ, Yu M, Skiniotis G, Tall GG. Hexahydroquinoline Derivatives Are Selective Agonists for the Adhesion G Protein-Coupled Receptor ADGRG1/GPR56. Mol Pharmacol 2023 Jul;104(1):28-41. doi:10.1124/molpharm.123.000688. Epub 2023 Jun 8. PMID: 37290962; PMCID: PMC10289240.

Krishna Kumar K, Robertson MJ, Thadhani E, Wang H, Suomivuori CM, Powers AS, Ji L, Nikas SP, Dror RO, Inoue A, Makriyannis A, Skiniotis G, Kobilka B. Structural basis for activation of CB1 by an endocannabinoid analog. Nat Commun 2023 May 9;14(1):2672. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37864-4. PMID: 37160876; PMCID:PMC10169858.

Papasergi-Scott MM, Pérez-Hernández G, Batebi H, Gao Y, Eskici G, Seven AB, Panova O, Hilger D, Casiraghi M, He F, Maul L, Gmeiner P, Kobilka BK, Hildebrand PW, Skiniotis G. Time-resolved cryo-EM of G protein activation by a GPCR. Nature 2024 May;629(8014):1182-1191. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07153-1. PMID: 36993214; PMCID: PMC10055275.

Papasergi-Scott MM, Kwarcinski FE, Yu M, Panova O, Ovrutsky AM, Skiniotis G, Tall GG. Structures of Ric-8B in complex with Gα protein folding clients reveal isoform specificity mechanisms. Structure 2023 May 4;31(5):553-564.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2023.02.011. Epub 2023 Mar 16. PMID: 36931277; PMCID: PMC10164081.

Faouzi A, Wang H, Zaidi SA, DiBerto JF, Che T, Qu Q, Robertson MJ, Madasu MK, El Daibani A, Varga BR, Zhang T, Ruiz C, Liu S, Xu J, Appourchaux K, Slocum ST, Eans SO, Cameron MD, Al-Hasani R, Pan YX, Roth BL, McLaughlin JP, Skiniotis G, Katritch V, Kobilka BK, Majumdar S. Structure-based design of bitopic ligands for the µ-opioid receptor. Nature 2023 Jan;613(7945):767-774. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05588-y. Epub 2022 Nov 30. PMID: 36450356; PMCID: PMC10328120.

Qu Q, Huang W, Aydin D, Paggi JM, Seven AB, Wang H, Chakraborty S, Che T, DiBerto JF, Robertson MJ, Inoue A, Suomivuori CM, Roth BL, Majumdar S, Dror RO, Kobilka BK, Skiniotis G. Insights into distinct signaling profiles of the µOR activated by diverse agonists. Nat Chem Biol 2023 Apr;19(4):423-430. doi: 10.1038/s41589-022-01208-y. Epub 2022 Nov 21. PMID: 36411392; PMCID: PMC11098091.

Robertson MJ, Papasergi-Scott MM, He F, Seven AB, Meyerowitz JG, Panova O, Peroto MC, Che T, Skiniotis G. Structure determination of inactive-state GPCRs with a universal nanobody. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2022 Dec;29(12):1188-1195. doi: 10.1038/s41594-022-00859-8. Epub 2022 Nov 17. PMID: 36396979.

Kaplan AL, Confair DN, Kim K, Barros-Álvarez X, Rodriguiz RM, Yang Y, Kweon OS, Che T, McCorvy JD, Kamber DN, Phelan JP, Martins LC, Pogorelov VM, DiBerto JF, Slocum ST, Huang XP, Kumar JM, Robertson MJ, Panova O, Seven AB, Wetsel AQ, Wetsel WC, Irwin JJ, Skiniotis G, Shoichet BK, Roth BL, Ellman JA. Bespoke library docking for 5-HT<sub>2A</sub> receptor agonists with antidepressant activity. Nature 2022 Oct;610(7932):582-591. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05258-z. Epub 2022 Sep 28. PMID: 36171289; PMCID: PMC9996387.

Cao C, Barros-Álvarez X, Zhang S, Kim K, Dämgen MA, Panova O, Suomivuori CM, Fay JF, Zhong X, Krumm BE, Gumpper RH, Seven AB, Robertson MJ, Krogan NJ, Hüttenhain R, Nichols DE, Dror RO, Skiniotis G, Roth BL. Signaling snapshots of a serotonin receptor activated by the prototypical psychedelic LSD. Neuron 2022 Oct 5;110(19):3154-3167.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.08.006. Epub 2022 Sep 9. PMID: 36087581; PMCID: PMC9583076.

Chen G, Wang X, Liao Q, Ge Y, Jiao H, Chen Q, Liu Y, Lyu W, Zhu L, van Zundert GCP, Robertson MJ, Skiniotis G, Du Y, Hu H, Ye RD. Structural basis for recognition of N-formyl peptides as pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Nat Commun 2022 Sep 5;13(1):5232. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-32822-y. PMID: 36064945; PMCID: PMC9445081.

Robertson MJ, Meyerowitz JG, Panova O, Borrelli K, Skiniotis G. Author Correction: Plasticity in ligand recognition at somatostatin receptors. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2022 Aug;29(8):841. doi: 10.1038/s41594-022-00813-8. Erratum for: Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2022 Mar;29(3):210-217. doi: 10.1038/s41594-022-00727-5. PMID: 35804245.

See a full list of publications from Dr. Skiniotis

Last update: March 2025